Who Governs Who?

The administration here at MCS has done it once again. The very people that run our school have brought false hope, discouragement and inaccurate results repeatedly to students who attend school in the district. Class elections have never been an event here, the same students ran each year, without an opponent. In these cases, the candidate would stand up on stage amongst their peers and, without any meaning, begin and conclude their speeches with “I’m ____ and you should vote for me because, well, I’m the only one running!” However, the class elections in the school year of 2008-2009, were a different story. More than one candidate for a position was common in all grades. Excited, the candidates prepared for their campaigns. I, too, was one of those candidates and it is here that our story begins: Drained from the same students who run for office in my class, I decided to run for the position of Treasurer. Now, I have signed an agreement to not say any negative comments to or about any others running, therefore this article will contain none of that content. Nonetheless, I excitedly began talking with my peers about running for a position. Unanimously, they agreed that I should do it. Taking their advice, I began to pass around a petition for my classmates to sign which enabled me to run for the position of Treasurer. After getting a significant amount of signatures, my campaign began. I plastered posters in the halls of Middleburgh High, worked on my speech, and preached to everyone about what I would do if I were elected into office. Dutifully, I ran a clean campaign that I worked hard on and actually cared about. This was a mutual feeling that I shared with the candidates around the school. Speeches were made and the votes were collected, I returned to class with people congratulating me and telling each other who they voted for. I was skeptical at first, until later in the day I heard that a majority of people checked my box on the half-sheet of paper. Students were eager, even though the votes could be “counted” the same day, we would not know until the end of the year. I was unable to attend school the day the new class officers for the following year were announced, but I received many texts telling me who won. I was content with the results- a guy for President, a hard-working Vice President, and the secretary who always wins only because she’s the only one running (who, by the way is in congress as well as office). However, I did not win treasurer; neither did the other guy running. This was also a common feat for the other grades; the expected winners did not, in fact, win. Speculation circled my mind the rest of the day- who was lying? Convinced my classmates did indeed vote for me I confronted the principle of our school. I went in open minded, and not having a negative attitude. I was simply curious to see as to how many students actually voted for me. When asked, she replied “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any of the records”. Funny isn’t it? She confirmed that she counted the votes herself…wouldn’t you think there would be records in case there was some sort of confusion? Red-hands seem to be washed pretty quickly in this so called-“close” country school. Although I could not confirm the information I gathered from an unnamed source, I was told there were two ties in the election for my class. I guess whoever the administration thinks “needs” it most, fills their open hands. If I knew that, I would gladly slip a 50 into the pockets of the vote counter, and stand outside with my hands wide open. This has discouraged me from my future political career. I do not feel it fit to be taking up a career with a bunch of liars, cheaters and “brown-nosers”, which in this instance, has proved that to be true. This issue can be related to that of the recent election for Presidency of the United States as well as the speculated Iranian election. I conclude that the school is indeed doing their job by preparing the students for the “real world”. Although, I feel as though I am way more sophisticated than others, (due to the fact that I have lived in many, many places other than Schoharie County) this current issue proves to me that all politicians are crooks and that people in ‘power’ are corrupt. And I leave this to you; if elections here at Middleburgh Central School continue to work like this, are they worth having? Colleges don’t give a rat if you’re in class office of a school made up of 300 students.

Subscribe

Get Teen Ink’s 48-page monthly print edition. Written by teens since 1989.